Downsizing a Home

Tips for Downsizing a home from a girl who’s done it

1. Start Early

You can never underestimate the importance of planning ahead.

If you think you might want to downsize your home, you really definitely need to get on a timeline. If you have a couple of years to plan that’s probably the best of all scenarios. That way you can go through the rest of this list and have plenty of time to make decisions.

Create a specific timeline for your downsizing adventure.

If you start now, and follow a plan, then you can avoid the last-minute stress and frustration of having to make a really quick decision. I’ve watched older couples do such a great job of planning for this, so that their kids don’t have to deal with all the stuff they’ve accumulated over their lives!

My parents finally made the decision to downsize and were able to declutter almost everything and break up their heirloom of furniture so that it has a home before something happens to them. Having to deal with someone else’s belongings while you’re dealing with the loss it’s so much added stress.

Follow a step by step process to help keep you on track.

Even though we were only in our late 40s when we sold our larger home, I had it in the back of my mind that it was a good thing. We could let go of some things that we didn’t really need so that our kids would not be dealing with it down the road.

In this current home, we’ve been able to get rid of even more stuff and keep only what we think we need for our grandkids… and their grandkids,,, and their grandkids.

In thinking ahead, I believe we are saving our boys future heartache and heartbreak. Also, it relieves a lot of stress from our lives not having so much clutter around.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t still have clutter we need to get rid of, it just means that we have a whole lot less of it.

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2. Assess Your Needs

Determine your new living space requirements.

when we sold our home, we knew that we needed a minimum of three bedrooms and two bathrooms. For us the number of toilets we have in our home is more important than the number of bedrooms or square feet! Ha ha. You might still want to have room for your kids to visit or your grandkids to visit so think about how you can make the most of your space by downsizing. You could take one bedroom and build in for bunkbeds and have plenty of room for family without needing so much square footage.

Consider lifestyle changes, family size, and mobility needs.

As you age, or have a change in lifestyle, your needs are definitely going to change. In our case, our kids are all out of the house. So we don’t necessarily need room for them on a daily basis. But we definitely want him to come home! So in our new house, even though it’s small we have room for them to visit. We just have dual uses for these rooms now.

We also decided to age proof our home a bit. One of our non-negotiables this time was one downstairs bedroom. It was not easy to find here in Southwest Virginia where most homes have two stories with bedrooms upstairs. Thankfully we were finally able to find a home in our budget that had a downstairs bedroom. It also has a full bathroom downstairs. And a powder room. Bonus for the extra toilet downstairs. LOL

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3. Declutter Systematically

Decide on a strategy for decluttering (e.g., room-by-room, category approach).

there are a couple of ways to approach decluttering your home. Depending on the way your brain works you might want to attack this one room at a time. However, if you have a lot of one type of item, you might want to approach it by categories.

If you have a lot of leftover stuff from your kids, you might want to start there. If you have a lot of extra furniture, you might want to go that route. It really depends on what you think will make it easier on yourself.

When I was decluttering before this move, we had so little to really go through, that I just went room by room. And that works for me.

Create a plan for differentiating between what to keep, donate, sell, or discard.

Sit down and figure out a way to prioritize the things that you want to keep, donate, sell or get rid of. For this move I decided that we were only keeping things that had deep meaningful memories and the things that we would like to pass on.

That meant we were getting rid of a lot of extraneous paper files, toys that were not gonna stand the test of time, furniture that wouldn’t fit into our house, and the like. Nothing came into our new home that we were not currently using or planning on saving.

Thomas the Tank Engine made the cut as well as all of our Legos. We kept the boys very favorite games and let go of the rest of them. It was a difficult process, but because we had just done it before we were able to get through it pretty quickly.

Remember to stay centered and mindful.

When you’re going through things that your family has creative memories around, and can be quite emotional. When you are emotionally attached to staff, it can be really hard to let go. It’s important to remember that the memories or whatever important and not the tangible item.

I know it’s easier said than done, but if you are able to create some emotional distance, you can make better decisions.

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4. Sell or Donate Items You No Longer Need

Research where to sell items (garage sales, online platforms, consignment shops).

Maybe your community loves yard sales, or maybe you’d rather deal with Facebook marketplace.

I prefer not to have yard sales but the one thing that we did do was take one of our nice pieces of furniture (that had no real emotional value) to a consignment shop. We were able to sell it and get a little bit of cash for it. It worked out great!

Find the best donation options for gently used items (charities, shelters, community groups).

places like Goodwill, the Salvation Army and other nonprofit organizations are well known for taking gently used items. Just make sure you know what they will except and what they will not except. We tried to give a really great IKEA bed to the Goodwill here, and they wouldn’t take it.

I understand them not wanting to take a mattress, but not a perfectly good bed frame. So check before you haul it down there.

I understand them not wanting to take a mattress, but not a perfectly good bed frame. So check before you haul it down there

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5. Digitize Documents and Sentimental Items

Digitize important documents and photos to reduce physical storage.

if you haven’t been doing this all along, consider starting to digitize your important documents and photos. I’ve gotten to where I’ll just take a picture of some thing and put it in an album on my phone. A few years ago, we decided to invest in a larger iCloud plan and we’re able to put a lot on there and not worry about it getting lost in the move, or in a fire or another disaster that may strike.

I need to get on that with our pre-digital age photos!

A few for preserving sentimental items without keeping everything.

If you have things your kids have made, but maybe they’re disintegrating from age, take a photo. You can look at it and remember what a sweet time that was.

If you have a piece of furniture that means a lot to you but know you can’t keep it, have someone do a watercolor portrait of it. That’s a great way to sentimentalize your object without having to carry it around.

Yes, that would be another piece of stuff, but something a lot smaller than an antique chest of drawers that you can’t keep!

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6. Measure Furniture and Spaces

Prioritize measuring new living spaces and furniture.

One of the first things I did during this move, was measure the pieces of furniture that I knew we wanted to keep. When we started looking for homes, I was able to walk off the measurements in the space to see if things would fit.

Ultimately, we chose a house we knew would not fit our dining room table. We went into the process knowing that for a fact and coming to terms with not having it anymore. I hope that at some point we will be able to add on a small space that we could use for a dining room. But for now we are dealing with that loss. But it’s easier to deal with it because we we’re aware of it from the get-go.

Tools and techniques for creating floor plans or layouts.

When we found a house that we liked, I would take the floor plan and lay it out in Canva or Photoshop. Then I would draw out the dimensions of our furniture to see if it would fit. I’m a visual person, so seeing it laid out like that was very helpful.

That’s how I knew we couldn’t keep both our dining room table and our piano. The piano won.

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7. Prioritize Multifunctional Furniture

There are benefits of investing in versatile, space-saving furniture.

if you need to downsize, having multis furniture is great. The desks can double as a breakfast table. A couch can double as a bed. There are lots of things you can do to make your home multifunctional.

Types of multifunctional pieces

• Sofa Bed – Functions as both a sofa and a bed.
• Storage Ottoman – Acts as a seat or footrest with hidden storage.
• Extendable Dining Table – Expands for guests, stays compact otherwise.
• Murphy Bed – Folds into the wall to save floor space.
• Folding Desk – Compact work surface that folds away.
• Coffee Table with Storage – Lift-up top with built-in storage.
• Bookshelf Room Divider – Doubles as a room divider and shelving.
• Nesting Tables – Stackable tables to save space.
• Bed with Storage Drawers – Built-in drawers for extra storage.
• Convertible Chair/Sleeper Chair – Converts from a chair into a bed.
• Foldable Wall-Mounted Desk/Table – Folds flat against the wall when not in use.
• Modular Sectional Sofa – Rearranges into different configurations.
• TV Stand with Shelves or Drawers – Combines media storage and display.
• Lift-Top Coffee Table – Raises for dining or work, with storage underneath.

The one piece of furniture that we did add was a bedframe with storage drawers.

Our master bedroom is so small we couldn’t even fit a dresser in it.

We found a gorgeous upholstered bed frame from Ikea that had really nice sliding drawers. It’s amazing.

We bought our son, Brendan, one from Amazon, and the storage doors were not attached. It’s fine for him for now.

Just be sure of what you are getting when you order so you’re not surprised!

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8. Involve Family and Friends

Can involving loved ones can make the downsizing process easier?

For my parents, having my sisters there to do the heavy lifting and reassure them and their choices was solid. They were older and really did need tangible help from family. In our case, we were younger and all of our kids were gone and we really didn’t need the same kind of help.

However, I did receive a lot of moral support from my friends and family as we were moving. So you may need more of that then you need actual physical help.

The importance of communicating intentions to avoid misunderstandings.

If you have children, be aware that your choices affect them…even if they have already left home.

My sisters would call me and asked me if I wanted something before just getting rid of it. No I’m the youngest so I was often the last to get the option, but that’s ok.

It’s always better to over-communicate than under-communicate, and I right?

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9. know your limits

Before you get into the thick of it, try to take some stock of where you are. Become aware of what your tolerance level is for not just the physical side of this, but the emotional side.

Your body will tell you a lot of things if you’re in tune to it. For me, I know that if I start to feel uneasy in my abdomen, I need to check in. For you it might be tension in your back shoulders or your head. How you feel will tell you a lot about where you are emotionally and mentally.

if you know how stress and tension present in your life, you can be aware of it. And when you’re aware of it, you can take a break, slow, your roll, take a bit more time with certain decisions and allow yourself to process this better.

Moving can be traumatic. In fact it definitely is. Even a positive one. Know your limits and listen to them.

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10. Hire Professional Help if Needed

When to consider hiring a downsizing specialist, organizer, or moving service.

If you have the means and are comfortable with people coming in your home and helping you, but all means do it.

If you’re hiring movers, read this post before you sign a contract!

We’ve always loved being moved professionally, but this past move was pretty awful.

I’m not saying, don’t hire help, I’m just saying, be very diligent in vetting them, and overseeing them!